Particulate materials container



June 21, 1966 D. L. OLIVER 3,257,063

PARTICULATE MATERIALS CONTAINER Filed June 18, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Hm", I W

INVENTOR DAVID L. OLIVER ATTORNEY June 21, 1966 D. L. OLIVER 3,257,063

PARTI CULATE MATERIALS CONTAINER Filed June 18, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7/ 2e 44 x i A; 2;

WIN in i INVENTOR 7 DAVID L. OLIVER BY M #{m ATTORNEY United States Patent The present invention relates to a container, and more particularly to a container especially constructed for holding particulate material during shipment and storage.

Over the years, many constructions of containers and boxes have been offered for the shipment of various goods. Initially, containers were of wood, which was utilized principally because of its strength and availability. Later,

metal and paper products were used for packaging, the

metal being resorted to where greater strength and durability than could be obtained by wood was required, and paper products being utilized for purposes of economy. A significant advance in paper product cartons was made with the advent of corrugated board, 'in which a sandwich was formed of two planar sheets of paper board having an undulating or corrugated sheet of paper board glued between them.

As paper board containers came into greater use, container constructions were provided to accommodate particular articles aand materials to be packaged. For example, special constructions were provided for fragile articles, for large bulky articles, forsoft goods, for frozen foods, etc.

In the field of liquids, packages were frequently of a drum-type, comprising a cylindrical body or main part with a pair of end caps or lids. Such construction was prominently used in containers made of metal, and wood,

and later paper 'board drum containers were used.

In the shipment of particulate materials, particularly in the shipment of such materials overseas, it was heretofore the practice to. package such material also in drumshaped containers. Drums made of paper products, such as paper board, were used. These drums were relatively economical to fabricate, and were gene-rally sufficiently strong to endure the rough treatment of shipments by rail, truck and ship. However, the drums are known to be unduly expensive toship. For example, the drums were fabricated and then shipped in erected form or state to a manufacturer of particulate materials, such as a chemical manufacturer. A shipment of such drums is extremely expensive, since only a limited number of the drums may be placed in a truck or rail car, and since freight rates are based upon both weight and volume.

After being filled with particulate chemicals, or other material, the drums were shipped to a seaport, and placed aboard ships for transportation to overseas destinations. It is well known that cargo space rates are computed upon a measurement ton basis, one factor of which is the cubic content of the space used, and cylindrical drums result in the shipment of less material in the available space than is possible with containers of rectangular outline. However, despite the increased shipment costs of the empty drums from paper plant to chemical plant, and despite the waste of cubage in the ships hold by the filled drums, such has heretofore been the commonly followed prac-. tice for the shipment of many particulate materials.

The packaging and shipping of particulate materials has received the attention of others, and proposals have been made heretofore to provide particulate containers "ice which avoided the uneconomical space wastage above noted. However, these efforts to produce particulate material containers of generally parallelepipedal shape has not been completely satisfactory. In one attemptto offer a suitable construction of this type, an inner liner was provided of drum shape, and thus the shipment of the cylindrical or drum-shaped liners from the paper manufacturer to the chemical manufacturer. offered no savings over the previously utilized construction of drum-shaped containers. Also, it was intended that, in order to provide adequate strength, the drum axis of this container remain vertical, a measure not readily obtainable in practice. In another proposal, a container was provided having extremely intricate end caps, and an inner tray for holding a portionof the particulate material separate from the remainder thereof. Such construction was unduly expensive, and also was intended to be maintained in vertical orientation.

Other proposal-s which have been made for containers have provided outer cartons with liners in them. Such .liners however, provided less increase in strength than is desirable.

Particulate materials, it will be understood, are solid materials in finely powdered or granulated form. Such particulate materials have many of the attributes of liquid, particularly after a container of such particulate materials has been shaken down so that the contact 'between individual particles is as close and substantial as possible. Thus, particulate materials tend to flow and leak, and to behave like liquid when confined and subjected to load. I

Further, particulate material must be packed :by a method which insures complete filling of the container. A preferred method has been vacuum packing, in which the open container is placed in a housing, the container volume is evacuated, and then the particulate material is released into the container. This imposes very heavy loads on the container walls tending to bow them. Heretofore, only drum containers were packed. by this method, to the knowledge of applicant. 9

An object of the present invention is the provision of a container particularly adapted for particulate material.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a container for particulate material or the like which is of extremely economical construction.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a container for particulate material or the like of relatively simple components fabricated from paper board products.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a container for particulate, material which may be readily shipped in knocked down condition.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a container for particulate material which will be of generally parallelepipedal form when erected and filled.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a container which will be sufficiently strong to enable particulate (and other) materials to be shipped therein, while adequately withstanding all of the hard usage and conditions imposed by local and overseas shipmerit.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a container for particulate material which has adequate strength when stored and shipped on any surface thereof.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a container for particulate material which may be stacked in random fashion.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a container of rectangular outline which is sufiiciently strong prior to sealing to perm-it filling by a vacuum process.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the instant invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, with parts broken away and in section, of a container in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 1A is a view illustrating the construction of a part of the container of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, with parts in phantom, illustrating the forces acting on the sidewalls of a parallelpipedal container filled with fluid or fluid-like material.

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 successively illustrate the forces on a sidewall resulting from an impact on the container.

FIG. 6- shows a plurality of containers in stacked array.

FIG. 7 shows a plurality of containers stacked in layers.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 88 of FIG. 7.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like or corresponding reference numerals are used to designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in FIG. 1 a composite container generally degignated 10, and comprising an outer carton 11 having four sidewalls, end wall 12 and sidewall 13 being visible. The outer carton M has flaps extending from the upper and lower edges of the sidewalls and endwalls, there being shown, for example, the upper flap 121 and the bottom flap 122 on the endwall 12 and the upper flap 13 1 and the bottom flap 132 extending from the sidewall 13. Carton L1 is made of ordinary corrugated board which may be appropriately treated, as with a waterproofing material.

While the wall 12 has been designated as an end wall and the wall 13 has been designated as a sidewall, it will be understood that these walls may or may not be of equal width, although preferably they are of equal widths so that the container 11, in horizontal cross section, is square.

Within the outer carton lll there is provided a composite structurally integrated load resisting and absorbing structure. This structure is formed of a paper product, the triple-wall corrugated paper board shown in FIG. 1A. This material comprises four planarsheets 16 of liner board paper with three corrugated or undulating sheets 17 of corrugating media paper between and adhered to them. It has great resistance to crushing or columnar forces applied at its edges, is able to withstand large loads applied to its planar surfaces, and tends to absorb impacts or shocks applied to its planar surfaces.

The structure noted comprises a liner generally designated 20 and having four panels 21, 22, 23 and 24. The liner 20 is made from a single integral sheet of the triplewall corrugated board, and hence the panels are integrally joined to each other in serial fashion, with the exception that panels 21 and 24 are not joined to each other. To form the liner into a complete structural unit capable of effectively resisting forces applied to it, the. free end of panel 21 and the free end of panel 24 are secured together by a suitable securing device, which preferably is in the form of a strip of adhesive tape, the strip 30 extending from the juncture of panels 21 and 24 along each of said panels. Strip 30 is strong, and may contain reinforcing elements.

The liner 20 is supported on a bottom pad 25 which has linear dimensions conforming it substantially to the interior of the carton 1|1. Similarly, an upper pad 26 of the same dimensions as the bottom pad 25 is above the liner 20. Pads 25 and 26 are also formed of triplewall corrugated board and both pads and liner are in substantial engagement with the inner surfaces of car-ton 11.

Within the parallelepiped formed by the liner 20 and the pads 25 and 26 there is a plastic liner 33 which is provided to insure against leakage of the material within the container 10, and to protect the material against moisture, etc.

The container 10 includes a pair of steel straps 35 and 36 which encircle it, the straps being generally parallel to each other and extending across the upper pad 26 and lower pad 25, as shown.

Containers for the shipment of particulate material are subjected to severe loads during shipment. The containers are often stacked in tiers, with the tiers being supported by a pallet, so that a large number of containers may be picked up by appropriate mechanical equipment such as fork lift trucks. When the pallet loaded with the containers is set down, while care is usually taken, they are not handled gently. Therefore, they are often deposited upon the ground or deck of a ship or floor of a truck or train with some impact. This causes a dynamic or shock load, and is of an entirely different magnitude than the static loads imposed on the container when it is at rest.

To illustrate the loads within a container having fluid or fluid-like material therein, of which particulate material is an example, there is shown in FIG. 2 a parallelepipedal container 40 having walls 41, 42, 43 and 44. Each of the walls is under a load which may be diagrammed as a force triangle, there being one force triangle indicated as acting on each of the four walls. 'As will be noted, there is very little force at the tops of the walls, with the force increasing to a maximum at the bottom of the four walls. Of course, the bottom 45 of the carton 40 is also loaded, this being an even load over the entire surface of the bottom 45.

The container 10 -is constructed to resist the static loads illustrated in FIG. 2, and also the dynamic loads suchas are imposed when a container is dropped through a distance. In that case, the sudden and practically instantaneous halting of the downward movement of the container 10 results in substantially increased loads due to the inertia of the material within the container. At the instant of impact, the force triangle will be greatly changed, initially having a configuration somewhat as shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3 it will be noted that the forces acting against the bottom of the container wall are of substantially greater magnitude than the static forces. Later in time, the position of the increased forces will move upwardly along the wall, occupying an intermediate position as shown in FIG. 4 and an upper position as shown in FIG. 5. The change in the forces applied from those shown in FIG. 3 to those shown in FIG. 4, and possibly in the opposite direction, may be quite rapid.

The construction of container 10 enables it to withstand the forces shown, not only in FIG. 2, but also those illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, because of the action of the liner 20 resulting from the particular construction of it. Thus the forces acting against the liner 20 in effect tend to burst it open. Because the liner is in essence an integral structural unit it will act to resist such bursting forces. In addition, the liner 20 will act to absorb the forces by yielding to them. Thus, it will be understood that each of the corrugated layers 17 will tend to flex and that the planar layers will tend to flex between the crests of the corrugations to which it is attached. The net effect, therefore, will be for the triple-wall corrugated liner 20 to resist bursting, and to absorb some of the energy imparted to it by flexing of some of the parts thereof, without resulting, under even severe loads, in permanent deformation or yielding ff an entire panel or even of a part of an outer planar ayer.

-:side.

In addition to the action of the liner 20 as hereinabove noted, it is also to be observed that the corrugations of liner 20 extend vertically. The vertical positioning of the corrugations in the liner 20 serves to absorb the energy imparted from an impact, as hereinabove described, and as noted particularly in connection with FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, since the increased forces acting in one horizontal region along the liner are dissipated upwardly and downwardly, thus tending to diminish the effect of the forces acting (as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5) by absorbing and distributing them.

Bursting forces are also resisted by the straps 35 and 36, which prevent movement of the pads 25 and 26 away from the liner 20.

The container is sufiiciently strong to be filled by a vacuum process, the lower pad 25, liner including strip 30, and plastic liner 33 being within carton 11 during the filling process. As is known, this method of filling imposes severe bursting loads on a partially filled container, and the integral liner 20 withstands these loads without yielding.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a stack or tier of three containers 10, and it will be observed that each comprises the outer carton 11, the liner 20 and the upper and lower pads and 26.

The weight of the particulate material in each of the containers 10 is borne by the lower pad 25 thereof. This weight, in the case of the upper container 10, is transmitted to the upper surface of the intermediate carton 10, and passes to the upper pad 26 of intermediate carton 10. This pad 26 rests upon the liner 20, so that substantially all of the weight of the material in upper container 10 is passed to the liner 20 of the intermediate container 10. This weight is transmitted through the liner 20 of intermediate container 10 to the liner 20 of the lower container 10. Similarly, the weight of the material in intermediate container 10 will be transmitted through the lower pad 25 of intermediate container 10, to the upper pad 26 of lower container 10 and thence to the liner 20 of lower container 10. Thus, the static forces will be transmitted, generally, from the floor orbottom of an upper container into the liner of the container therebeneath. When a stack ortier of containers 10 is dropped, the upper and lower pads, and the attendant construction hereinabove noted, will tend to isolate each mass of particulate material, that is the mass in one container from each mass of particulate material in the other containers. Therefore, there will be a minimal change in the static force triangles (refer to FIG. 2) against the walls of the lower container 10 and there will consequently be avoided any major increase in the dynamic forces( refer to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5) generated in the lower container 10 due to the intermediate and upper containers 10. Otherwise stated, the construction herein set forth prevents the imposition of static and dynamic bursting forces against the walls of the bottom container 10 resulting from the stacking of the containers 10.

While the container 10 is strong and durable when positioned as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, it is also strong and durable even if it is positioned on a side wall or end wall, rather than on its top or bottom. This is highly desirable where, for example, the container 10 is dimensioned so that it is of substantially square cross section and has a height about twice the length of a In other words, the liner 20 has panels with sides having a two to one ratio. Such containers lend themselves to being placed on a pallet in the manner shown in FIG. 7, with the axis of the liners 20 of the upper and lower containers 10 horizontal, and the axis of the liners 20 of the intermediate containers 10 horizontal,

.but at right angles to the axis of the liners of the lower containers.

The relationship of the load bearing structures is as shown in FIG. 8, in which the weight of the material in the upper containers 10 is transmitted to the end pads 25 and 26 of the intermediate containers, and to the liners thereof, thence, with the weight of materials in the intermediate containers, into the uppermost panels 23 of the liners 20 of the two lower containers 10, and then into the panels 22 and 24 of these lower containers. In each instance, the load of an upper container is transferred into the load bearing structure in the container or containers therebelow, and not into the ma terial therein, this being for both static and dynamic load-s.

Where such words as top, side and end are used in the specification and claims, they are used by way of description only, and do not limit the spirit of the invention. I

There has been provided a container particularly adapted for the shipment of particulate material, the container being capable of being manufactured from ine'xpensive, expendable paper board material. The container may be manufactured, initially, as blanks and shipped in knocked-down or fiat condition to a location in which it is erected and filled, such as a chemical plant. Thus, a minimum cost for shipment of containers is incurred with the container of the present invention.

The container of the present invention provides resistance to both static and dynamic forces imposed upon it, particular reference being had to those forces imposed through the action of the contents when of a liquid or liquid-like acting material.

In addition, the container herein provided in addition to being extremely economical, may be stacked or tiered, with great resistance to bursting forces when a tier of such containers is dropped, as during loading and unloading from vehicles, ships, etc.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A composite container comprising an outer right elongated p'arallelepidedal carton of corrugated board having top and blottom flaps, an inner force sustaining structure within said outer car-ton and in substantial engagement over the inner surfaces thereof comprising a pair of pads formed of triple-wall corrugated board radjacent the pair of opposite surfaces of said container which are the farthest apart, and a liner formed of triplewall corrugated board comprising a series of panels each adjacent a surface of said container and each being at right angles to said pads, the panels of said liner each being structurally integral with the panels adjacent to it and abutting against said pads, the corrugations of said liner extending from one said pad to the other said pad, an inner moisture-proof liner within said force sustaining structure having particulate material therewithin, said particulate material substantially filling the space encom passedby said force sustaining structure, and strap means encircling said carton and passing over the surfaces thereof adjacent said pads.

2. A composite container comprising an outer right parallelepipedal carton of corrugated board having top and bottom flaps, an inner force sustaining structure within said outer cart-on and in substantial engagement over the inner surfaces thereof comprising a pair of pads formed of corrugated board adjacent the pair of opposite surfaces of said container which are the farthest apart, and aliner formed of corrugated board comprising a series of panels each adjacent a surface of said container and each being at right angles to said pads, the panels of said liner each being structurally integral with the panels adjacent to it and abutting against said pads, the corrugations of said liner extending from one said pad to the other said pad, an inner moisture-proof liner Within said force sustaining structure having particulate material therewithin, said particulate material substantially filling the space encompassed by said force sustaining structure, and means for securing said top and bottom flaps.

3. A composite container comprising an outer rightparallelepipedal carton of corrugated board having top and bottom flaps, an inner force sustaining structure within said outer carton and in substantial engagement over the inner surfaces thereof comprising a pair of pads formed of triple-Wall corrugated board adjacent opposite surfaces of said container and a liner formed of triple-wall corrugated board comprising a series of panels each adjacent a surface of said container and each being at right angles to said pads, the panels of said liner each being structurally integral with the panels adjacent to it and abutting against said pads, the corrugations of said liner extending from one said pad to the other said pad, an inner moisture-proof liner Within said forcesustaining structure having particulate material therewithin, said particulate material substantially filling the space encompassed by said force sustaining structure, and strap means encircling said carton and passing over the surfaces thereof adjacent said pads.

4. A composite container comprising an outer right parallelepipedal carton of corrugated board having top and bottom flaps, an inner force sustaining structure within said outer carton and in substantial engagement over the inner surfaces thereof comprising a pair of pads formed of corrugated board adjacent opposite surfaces of said container and a liner formed of corrugated boa-rd comprising a series of panels each adjacent a surface of said container and each being at right angles to said pads, the panels of said liner each being structurally integral with the panels adjacent to it and abutting against said pads, pads, the corrugations of said liner extending from one said pad to the other said pad, an inner moisture-proof liner Within said force sustaining structure having particulate material therewithin, said particulate material substantially filling the space encompossed by said force sustaining structure, and strap means encircling said carton and passing over the surfaces thereof adjacent said pads.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,458,737 1/1949 Salkowitz 229-14 X 3,012,660 12/1961 Sheldon. 3,021,044 2/1962 Schubert. 3,036,752 5/ 1962 Elliott 229-44 3,079,059 2/ 1963 Kuchenbecker 229-14 3,123,207 3/ 1964 Goldstein 206-44 FOREIGN PATENTS 855,330 11/1960 Great Britain. 108,885 10/ 1943 Sweden.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Examiner.

D. T. MOORHEAD, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A COMPOSITE CONTAINER COMPRISING AN OUTER RIGHT ELONGATED PARALLELEPIDEDAL CARTON OF CORRUGATED BOARD HAVING TOP AND BOTTOM FLAPS, AN INNER FORCE SUSTAINING STRUCTURE WITHIN SAID OUTER CARTON AND IN SUBSTANTIAL ENGAGEMENT OVER THE INNER SURFACES THEREOF COMPRISING A PAIR OF PADS FORMED OF TRIPLE-WALL CORRUGATED BOARD ADJACENT THE PAIR OF OPPOSITE SURFACES OF SAID CONTAINER WHICH ARE THE FARTHEST APART, AND A LINER FORMED OF TRIPLEWALL CORRUGATED BOARD COMPRISING A SERIES OF PANELS EACH ADJACENT A SURFACE OF SAID CONTAINER AND EACH BEING AT RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID PADS, THE PANELS OF SAID LINER EACH BEING STRUCTURALLY INTEGRAL WITH THE PANELS ADJACENT TO IT AND ABUTTING AGAINST SAID PADS, THE CORRUGATIONS OF SAID LINER EXTENDING FROM ONE SAID PAD TO THE OTHER SAID PAD, AN INNER MOISTURE-PROOF LINER WITHIN SAID FORCE SUSTAINING STRUCTURE HAVING PARTICULATE MATERIAL THEREWITHIN, SAID PARTICULATE MATERIAL SUBSTANTIALLY FILLING THE SPACE ENCOMPASSED BY SAID FORCE SUSTAINING STRUCTURE, AND STRAP MEANS ENCIRCLING SAID CARTON AND PASSING OVER THE SURFACES THEREOF ADJACENT SAID PADS. 